1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dryer, and more particularly to a dryer that has a heater-integrated intake duct capable of reducing thermal loss and preventing overheating of the dryer.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a flow passage of a conventional dryer, and FIG. 2 is a partially cut-away perspective view of the conventional dryer.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional dryer includes a case 2 constituting an outer appearance of the dryer, a drum 12 rotatably disposed inside the case 2, a heater 18 disposed at a lower side of the case 2 to heat air introduced into the case, an intake duct 20 guiding air heated by the heater 18 to the rear of the drum 12, an exhaust mechanism 22 for discharging air to the outside of the case 2, a ventilation fan (not shown) provided to the exhaust mechanism 22, and a motor (not shown) and a fan belt 40 disposed at the lower side of the case 2 to drive the drum 12 and the ventilation fan. Further, the drum 12 has lifters 11 coupled to an inner surface thereof to lift and drop laundry during a drying operation.
The exhaust mechanism 22 includes a lint duct 25 defining a flow passage of air discharged from the drum 12 and having a filter 24 to separate foreign matter from air flowing through the lint duct 25, a fan housing 26 communicating with the lint duct 25 and surrounding the ventilation fan 30, and an exhaust duct 27 having one end communicating with the ventilation fan and the other end disposed outside the case 2.
Operation of the conventional dryer will be described below.
First, when the dryer is operated with laundry received in the drum 12, the drum 12 and the ventilation fan are rotated, and the heater 18 is operated.
While the drum 12 is rotated, the laundry received in the drum 12 is lifted by the lifters 11 and then falls down inside the drum 12. Further, while being sucked into the drum 12 through the heater 18 by a ventilation force caused by rotation of the ventilation fan, external air is changed into high-temperature low-humidity air by the heater 18 and flows into the drum 12 through the intake duct 20.
Inside the drum 12, high-temperature low-humidity air having flown into the drum 12 dries the laundry, changes into low-temperature high-humidity air, and is finally discharged to the outside of the dryer through the exhaust duct 27.
In the conventional dryer, however, since the heater is accommodated in a separate tube extending from the intake duct and located inside the cabinet, making it difficult to reduce the distance between the heater and the drum to a predetermined distance or less, the air heated by the heater experiences thermal loss while flowing into the drum.
Further, since the drive motor and the heater, both of which are likely to overheat, are all disposed at the lower side of the cabinet in the conventional dryer, the interior of the dryer can be overheated to cause malfunction or damage of the dryer.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved dryer that overcomes such problems of the conventional dryer.